STOP! ...Itchy Time
Here in East Texas it's already allergy/itch time. I know, most of you still have snow...but here our cars are literally covered with a visible not-so-fine yellow (pollen) dust. Ew. Everyone is itchy, red, watery and rubbing. OH NO PINK EYE IS CATCHING! No, more like allergic conjunctivitis. I blog about this every year and here's my 2013 edition: 1) really bad, swollen lid eyes get steroids. Alrex and Lotemex. 2) itchy and watery eyes that are red get Rx antihistamines. Current favorite is Lastacaft. 3) best OTC/home remedies are Alaway (Bausch & Lomb), Zaditor (Novartis) and the knock offs like Wal-Zyr (Walgreen's)...as well as CHILLED ARTIFICIAL TEARS. No hot compresses for allergy eyes, people. Also skip the "homeopathic" remedies like Similisan & putting "local honey" in your eyes. Please stay away from the "A-Team": Visine-A, Opcon-A, Naphcon-A. Ok that about does it! Stop rubbing your eyes and make an appt with your O.D.!
Should be the best time for O.Ds.. :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe be this is unrelated, I started wearing some Acuvue TruEye for about 2 weeks. At the end of the day, the part of my eye that are covered with the contact lens looks perfectly white and fresh. However, the white part of eye are NOT cover by the contact lens willed be crawled with blood veins. The upper and lower eyelid will feel itchy too. It seems the only place that look/feels fine is the center of my eye that are covered with the lens. Could that be the lens shielding that part of the eye from pollen? I don't remember eye being that itchy/red before wearing contacts though.
ReplyDelete"At the end of the day, the part of my eye that are covered with the contact lens looks perfectly white and fresh. However, the white part of eye are NOT cover by the contact lens willed be crawled with blood veins...It seems the only place that look/feels fine is the center of my eye that are covered with the lens. Could that be the lens shielding that part of the eye from pollen? I don't remember eye being that itchy/red before wearing contacts though."
ReplyDeletethat sounds like the classic presentation of a "too tight" lens. thearea under the contact lens has the blood vessels pinched off and so it looks "whiter" while the area outside gets increasingly redder. if it is too tight, it should also be uncomfortable at the end of the day. no, the contact doesn't "shield" part of the eye from allergens.
"The upper and lower eyelid will feel itchy too"
itchy in the INSIDE? could be allergies or GPC...
In my contact lens fitting follow up(Air Optix). My doc told me that I have some minor corneal scratch on my right eye when inspected under dye. He said it might due to my finger nails during lens removal(which is trimmed back as far as I could). I was told to stop wearing contacts for 2-3 days.
ReplyDeleteQ1: I read corneal abrasion is suppose to be very painful. However, I did not experience any pain/redness in my eye during the week whole of fitting. Is this normal? I am afraid that since I do not feel the scratch, I might be keep putting scratches on my cornea in the future without knowing myself(I heard something really bad can happen this way).
Q2: Can you scratch your cornea with your finger tip? My finger tips seem smooth and tender, with no scaring or peeling.
This incident really makes myself rethink about wearing contact lens!
Thanks!
Q1: you're right: abrasions hurt and turn your eye red. the fact that you were not red and were not in pain leads me personally to believe that...you probably did not have a "scratch".
ReplyDelete"I might be keep putting scratches on my cornea in the future without knowing myself"
unlikely.
Q2: not usually, no.
I think "corneal abrasion" or "scratch" gets overdiagnosed. scratch that (so to speak...haha) - I KNOW it gets overdiagnosed.
If someone is having an issue with allergies, ie itchy red eyes, would you suggest going without contacts? The contacts don't make it better or worse so I'm not sure I I should leave them out. Also I've been using target brand "eye allergy relief" drops but my eyes are still red. Have a better recommendation?
ReplyDeleteOTC? not really. chronic red eyes need to be seen by a doc...
ReplyDelete